I went to Walgreens the other day thinking they were ready to be gobbled up by this little thing know as capitalism. I needed to buy some mailing envelopes and some stamps. I have not bought stamps in the last five years. I rushed in the store because that is how I shop. I get in and out as quick as possible. As an aside, I really think working at a drug store may be one of the more banal jobs one can have. Walgreens is down right depressing. They really need to invest in light bulbs or swanky wooden floors.
I walked in the store and asked the clerk at the front desk, “Isn’t this store closing on Friday?” She looked at me, and in her best deadpan voice said no. She seemed far too energetic to pull off a dead pan voice.
She asked me where I heard such rumors and I told her I read it in the newspaper. What I said was intended to be true but wasn’t exactly true. I skimmed an article on some news feed somewhere. then again who reads newspapers anymore. Walgreens closings are now week old news.
She replied. “Did you read that on the internets?”
“I guess” I timidly replied and proceeded to look for mailing envelopes. In a simple odd twist of fate, I was looking for mailing envelopes because a publishing house wanted me to mail them my story instead of the traditional email. So that is how I entered this backward portal.
I imagine this poor girl at the counter was now worried about her job as she hadn’t heard their firm was in trouble.
She told me not to believe everything I read on The Internets. And who was I to argue. She needed her reality much more than I needed mine.
I have no idea what I am going to do with the other seventeen stamps in the book. Then again I have an idea what I I’ll do. I will do what I did many years ago when stamps went from eighteen cents to twenty cents. I will sit down and write some letters. I have not done that in awhile.
The Side Effects of Endorphins 